Baby Shower

Baby Shower Menu
Chicken salad sammiches
Fruit cups
Deviled Eggs
Hughes' Cheeseball with veggies & crackers
Oreo Truffles
Cupcakes
Bacon & artichoke spinach dip
Sweet Tea
Punch


Chicken Salad
2 c. chopped, cooked chicken breast
1/2 c. celery, chopped
1/4 c. red onion
1/4 c. dried cranberries
1/4 c. slivered almonds
1/2 t. Nature Seasoning
1/8 t. dill weed
1/2 c. mayonaise

Chop chicken and vegetables



Bacon & Artichoke Spinach Dip
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 shallot, minced
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 (10-ounce) package frozen chopped spinach, thawed
1 (6-ounce) jar marinated artichoke hearts, roughly chopped
10 bacon strips, fried until crisp and crumbled
1 teaspoon lemon zest
2 cups sour cream
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
Crispy Pitas, recipe follows


Heat the vegetable oil in a small skillet over medium low heat. Add the garlic and shallot and cook, stirring frequently, until the shallot softens and the garlic begins to brown, about 7 minutes. Remove from heat and set aside. Put the spinach in a colander and squeeze out all of the excess water. Transfer to a large mixing bowl and add the artichoke hearts, crumbled bacon, cooked garlic and shallot, lemon zest, sour cream, salt and pepper. Mix well with a rubber spatula, and transfer to a decorative bowl. Allow to sit for 30 minutes before serving so the flavors can blend.



Deviled Eggs
12 eggs
4 tablespoons mayonnaise
2 teaspoons yellow mustard
2 teaspoons sweet relish
Salt
Pepper
Paprika, for dusting


Place eggs in a large wide saucepan and cover with cold water. Bring to a boil for 12 minutes. Remove eggs and and cool in refrigerator. Remove shells from eggs and slice in half lengthwise. Separate egg yolks and place into a bowl. Place whites on a separate plate. Add mayo, mustard, relish and salt and pepper, to taste, to yolks and mash together with a fork until creamy and smooth. Using a large star tip and resealable plastic bag, pipe the yolk mixture back into each egg, enough to fill yolk holes completely. Dust tops with paprika. Refrigerate. Serve cold.

oh, and by the way...

I plan on being back in the kitchen & making more wonderful things, especially as fall arrives :) I have been cooking, but just doing "old favorites" recently, but now I am longing for new recipes again.

So don't lose faith in this little blog!

Candy Brownies

My coworker Susan brings these in to work pretty regularly & I love them. After only getting one bite before they were all gone this past week, I thought I would try my hand & make some of my own!

Ingredients
One box of brownie mix & everything needed to make said brownies
1 or 2 Symphony toffee bars

Directions

1. Preheat oven, prepare pan, and mix brownie mix as directed on the box (just as if you were making regular brownies.

2. Pour 1/2 the brownie mix into the pan. Create a layer of Symphony bars on top of the mix.

3. Pour the remaining 1/2 of the brownie mix on top of the candy.

4. Bake brownies per instructions on the box (just as if you were making regular brownies.

Allow to cool & serve!!

*This recipe can be done with pretty much any candy -- I also love York Peppermint Patties between the brownie mix.*

**A side note, in case you noticed the tinfoil. This is another trick of Susan's. They bake perfectly, but this is super-duper easy clean-up! You don't even have to wash the baking dish afterwards.**

Florentine Meatballs by Rachel Ray

I snagged these from my friend Jamie's blog & thought they looked delicious. And they were AH-MAZING!! Doug loved them as well & lauded that they tasted just like a sub restaurant.


Ingredients:
1 box frozen spinach, defrosted in the microwave
1 1/3 lb ground turkey breast
1/2 of a medium onion, finely chopped
3 cloves garlic, chopped
1 large egg
1/4 c milk
1/2 c grated Parmesan cheese
3/4 c bread crumbs
Olive oil

Directions:
1) Preheat oven to 400 F.
2) Defrost spinach in microwave. Wring out defrosted spinach.
2) Place turkey in a bowl with the spinach. Add onion, garlic, egg, milk, bread crumbs, Parmesan and salt and pepper to taste.
3) Mix well and form into large balls. (it made about 20 balls)
4) Place on a non-stick cookie sheet & drizzle with virgin olive oil.
5) Cook for 20 min in the oven until cooked through.


I served them on toasted sub rolls with slices of provolone cheese & tomato sauce drizzled on top.

Stuffed Peppers.

My husband said he was willing to try stuffed peppers for dinner, so I jumped at the chance to get a vegetable on our plates & snagged this recipe from my friend Jamie.

Stuffed Peppers
1 lb ground beef (I use 7% fat ground turkey)
1 large onion, chopped
1 15 oz can tomato sauce, divided
1 1/4 c water, divided
1 envelope Good Seasoning Garlic & Herb Dressing & Recipe mix
1 cup instant brown rice, uncooked
4 large green peppers

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400 F.
2. Brown meat with onion in large skillet over medium heat. Stir in 1 cup of tomato sauce, 1 cup of water & salad dressing mix. Bring to a boil, stir in rice & cover.
3. Remove from heat and let stand 5 min.

4. Cut tops off peppers and remove seeds.

5. Mix remaining sauce and 1/4 c water in the bottom of a 9 in square baking dish.

6. Place peppers in baking dish. Spoon meat mixture into peppers and cover with foil.

Bake 35 to 40 min or until peppers are tender. Spoon sauce from bottom of dish over peppers just before serving.

**I modified this a little because I halfed the recipe, plus I added cheese. I stirred in about 1/4 cup cheddar cheese into the meat/rice/tomato mix before spooning it into the peppers, then topped the peppers with parmesan & mozzarella, which created a nice little "crust" on top of the peppers. We also put a little dollop of sour cream on them while we were eating, which was awesome.

We LOVED this recipe & finally realize why people rave about stuffed peppers! I couldn't believe it when my husband thanked me for feeding him a vegetable.

Zuchinni "Crab" Cakes

As most of you know, I am deathly allergic to seafood!! It's such a shame, because I love seafood. ALL seafood. I miss nights out at the beach during the summer, shoving my face with crab, shrimp, and fish. Now, I sadly wave goodbye from the cottage as my family takes a night out to have seafood sans me -- but then they have to scrub down before coming back inside the house!

You can imagine my elation when my friend let me in on a secret -- zucchini cakes that taste like crab cakes!! After one mishap where the grocery store labeled zucchini & cucumber wrong & I realized my mistake while grating cucumbers, I finally gave them a shot last week. They don't take EXACTLY like crab...but it's been so long, that I honestly wouldn't remember what real crab tastes like!

Ingredients
2 cups grated zucchini (about 4 medium zucchini)
1 egg, beaten
1 tablespoon low-fat butter, melted
1/2 cup breadcrumbs
2 tbs. minced onion
1 teaspoon Old Bay Seasoning

Directions
1. Grate zucchini into colander. Squeeze out as much water as possible. Place on papertowel and salt. Let set for 30 minutes. Again, squeeze out at much water as possible with papertowel.
2. In a medium bowl, combine zucchini, egg, and butter. Stir in breadcrumbs, minced onion, and Old Bay. Mix well.
3. Preheat over to 400 degrees.
4. Shape mixture into patties and place on a cookie sheet sprayed with cooking spray.
5. Bake in preheated over for 12 - 15 minutes on each side.

You can serve one as a side, or eat two as a main dish. They are incredible with ketchup!

Creamy Cheese Grits & Spinach

Being Southern, my family LOVES grits. I'm a firm believer that you can put almost anything into grits and they will still taste wonderful.



Ingredients

1 (5-oz) package fresh baby spinach

1 cup quick-cooking grits

1.5 cups vegetable broth

1 cup 2% reduced-fat milk

1/2 tsp salt

1/8 tsp garlic powder

1/2 (8-oz) package shredded mozzarell-provolone cheese blend



Directions

1. Coarsely chop spinach.

2) Bring grits and next 4 ingredients (brother-garlic powder) to a boil in a medium saucepan over medum-high heat.

3) Reduce heat to low and simmer, stirring occasionally for 10-12 minutes or until thickened.

4) Stir in spnach and cheese until well-blended and cheese is melted.

5) Serve immediately!! :)

Weight Watchers Pie

This is an old favorite of mine from Weight Watcher's days. It is so incredibly tasty, and only 2 pts per slice. Since my mother and I are both working on losing weight, and my father is diabetic, it seemed like the perfect dessert option for Mother's Day.



Ingredients
1 box of sugar-free jello
1 tub fat free cool whip
1 6oz container of fat free yogurt
1 pie crust (I use pre-made)



Directions

1) Disolve jello in 1 cup boiling water.
2) Stir in yogurt. Mix well.
3) Stir in cool whip. Mix well (should be smooth).
4) Pour in crust and chill (preferably overnight).



I used lemon jello & lemon yogurt, but try different combonations! Chocolate pudding with vanilla yogurt, or lime + lime, or lemon + lime...tons of different options.

Jenny's Chicken That Changes Your Life

The main course of the Mother's Day Dinner:


Ingredients:
1 cup chopped cilantro
6 T olive oil
2-3 cloves minced garlic
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1/2 cup lime juice


5 T brown sugar
2 T mustard (you can use regular or honey dijon)
3 T hoison sauce (found near the Chinese/Japanese sauces & food)
1.5 T Red Wine vinegar


Drections
1) Combine first 6 ingredients (cilantro through lime juice) in a bowl. Combine last 4 ingredients (brown sugar through red wine vinegar in a smaller bowl.

2) Cut chicken into pieces that can be skewered.

3) Place chicken and all of first bowl in a large Ziplock bag. Pour in half of the second bowl into bag. Seal and place in refridgerator to marinate for 2-6 hours.

4) Place leftover 2nd bowl into the fridge. This will be used for basting while the chicken is on the grill.

5) Grill until chicken is done, while basting with the rest of the second bowl. The chicken should be charred, but not burnt.

Good as Moe's Burritos

These are a FAVORITE in our house & we make them at least once a week. While we are both fans of Moe's Southwest Grill, our checking account is not. I played around with ingredients & sauces, and this is our favorite (p.s. it's also relatively healthy if you try). I apologize for another recipe that does not have specific measurements, but it really is tailored to your taste.

Ingredients
Rice (we make 1 cup)
McCormick Cheesy Taco seasoning
whole wheat burritos

black beans or refried beans

Make your rice in a sauce pan, then stir in about 1/2 packet of the Taco seasoning (use full pack for more than 1 cup rice). Heat the black beans in a seperate sauce pan. I like to heat my burritos in microwave by placing damp paper towels between each burrito & heating for about 30 seconds. Load up your burrito!!

I love to put rice, beans, extra shredded cheddar cheese, salsa, & sour cream in one big rolled up tortilla :) Other toppings would be so tasty, like gaucemole, lettuce, tomato, etc.

Enjoy this fast, easy meal!!